A NOVICE runner has conquered 300km in aid of a dementia charity after losing his grandmother to the condition.

Richard Judd, 48, of Leadgate, County Durham, started his running journey a year ago after hearing about parkrun, which offers free timed 5km runs across the country.

The telesales worker said: “I was a bit scared when I arrived at Blackhill parkrun, as I’d hated cross-country at school, but I didn’t need to be.

“A friendly parkrunner walked me around the circuit and talked to me the whole way – soon I’d finished without even realising it.”

It took three months for Richard to be able to jog the whole course without walking. Then he began Running Down Dementia in May – an initiative organised by Alzheimer’s Research UK and parkrun which challenges participants to run 100km and raise £100 for the charity.

The charity challenge has spurred the father-of-two on, and he has far surpassed this goal, running 300km and raising £250 so far. He’s working up to the Great North Run in September.

His inspiration was his grandmother Celia Friend, who died with dementia 20 years ago.

Kenneth Foreman, sporting events manager at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “It’s brilliant to see how much Richard is enjoying Running Down Dementia.

“We want to thank him for his fantastic effort.”

To sign up for Running Down Dementia visit http://www.runningdowndementia.org and to support Richard, visit: https://running-down-dementia.everydayhero.com/uk/richard-2.